I go with present participle, acting as adjective.
Bonnie Odiorne, Writing Center Post University

 



________________________________
From: "Wrigley, Heide" <heide at literacywork.com>
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 8:13:38 PM
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3898] Re: past progressive


Hi Stephen
 
You could consider your example an elliptical phrase where something like “engaged in the process of”  is left out, leaving you just with “daydreaming and ignoring” ;  so  it could be a gerund. 
 
So the full sentence could be “Nelly and Francois chatted as I gazed lazily out the window, engaged in the process of daydreaming and ignoring their conversation."
 
Best 
 
Heide Spruck Wrigley
Mesilla, NM 
 


 
From:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of stephen churchville
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 6:10 AM
To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3896] Re: past progressive
 
A week or so there was thread on the past progressive tense, but I didn't see any discussion of this usage and am very curious:
"Nelly and Francois chatted as I gazed lazily out the window, daydreaming and ignoring their conversation."
(If there was a good explanation in the thread or Azar, I apologize for missing it and repeating what was asked).
 
What is the role of "daydreaming and ignoring" in this example? Can it be past progressive without starting a new clause, with a subject and auxilliary "be"? Certainly not gerunds. 
 
thanks


Stephen J Churchville
www.LessonWriter.com



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